Special A – 16

Episode at a Glance:
After being rejected by Jun, Sakura gets her father to coax Kei’s father into inviting the S.A class to a barbeque on an isolated island. While unable to get the help of Yahiro, Sakura tries her best to get closer to Jun, but Ryuu and Megumi manage to keep her away from him thanks to his emergency whistle. Seeing their interference, Sakura’s father proposes a lottery for picking a partner to work with and Sakura unsurprisingly draws Jun’s name. Kei was originally against the idea as well, until Hikari drew his name that is. Unable to escape Sakura’s clutches now, Jun ends up telling her that she’s a bother to him, but it has quite the reverse effect. Sakura then trips and Jun catches her, so she thanks him and leans in for a kiss, but Jun pushes her away. Reminded of a girl from his past who hated him after finding out his secret, Jun tells Sakura that he can’t go out with her, but she praises him for his honesty, which causes him to outburst that he isn’t.

Back with the others, Sakura’s determination has faultered a bit, but her father manages to rejuvenize her efforts. With the help of her father’s men, she goes for a more against-his-will approach, but Ryuu and Megumi manage to save Jun again. However, Sakura’s father gets involved, so Hikari sides with Jun, saying that you should only kiss the person you like. After mocking her growth in the area of relationships, Kei also helps out. Sakura then confronts Jun saying if he hates her that much, she’ll give up, so Jun decides to let her kiss him on the cheek like she wanted. He explains that he doesn’t hate her though, but has something he’s hiding, which she’ll understand in a bit. Unphased by his words, Sakura kisses Jun on the cheek, causing him to pass out.

Upon waking up, Jun assumes a studly persona that even attracts the likes of Akira. With his secret exposed, Ryuu explains that this is the chronic disease Jun has after being inadvertently hypnotized by the television. To return him back to normal, he has to lose consciousness again, which Megumi’s song of slumber is able to do. Returning back to normal now, Jun wakes up to find Sakura beside him with a look of concern on her face. She then praises him, saying she loves both sides of him, making Jun inexplicably happy. However, despite being more comfortable around her now, Jun still runs away at the sight of her onigiri of love.

Next Episode:
「遠慮・笑顔」 (Enryo / Egao)
“Restraint / Smile”

Impressions:
Well, I didn’t expect Jun to have some studly alter ego that is activated when he gets kissed by a girl. Plus, he acquired it when he was inadvertently hypnotized from the television no less. Given Sakura’s “bubbly” attitude though, it was somewhat predictable that she wouldn’t mind, but even then, it was nice to see her tell Jun that she likes both sides of him, especially when he hates his other persona. Seeing as Jun was happy to hear her say that, I’m starting to wonder if a Jun x Sakura pairing will be more prominent later on. I for one really like Sakura’s character, so I’d love to see her get more screen time one way or another. I mean, just look how cute she is here. Sakura aside, the other thing I really enjoyed about this episode was Kei’s ever increasing teasing and sarcasm towards Hikari. I find his jokes a lot more amusing to watch now because Hikari gets flustered when they’re in reference to him and her. Also, his sarcasm is pretty timely. E.g. When he nonchalantly mentioned how Jun’s alter ego attractiveness had no effect on her and how that’s expected of Hikari. With how dense Hikari is and how she’s started to notice her own feelings, I think Kei’s constant teasing will eventually get through to her, but even if it doesn’t, it’s still really amusing to watch.

Next time, it seems like Jun x Sakura will be put on hold and we’ll see more of Yahiro and Akira. It also looks like the production quality increased for the next episode as well, if the preview shots are any indication. Either that, or the hair detail has gone up drastically in every scene they showed.

OMG I cracked up so hard at the last part of episode 15. Now I gotta watch this one and see how Jun’s alter ego can subdue even Akira the male-antagonist. Still not strong enough to subdue Hikari, but then, it’s fortunate for Jun since You-Know-Who will probably eliminate Jun’s existence if that happens.

Hehe. What i meant by “squirm” is make HIkari more uncomfortable! She’s so dense that I pity poor Kei!

I finally watched this episode a while ago and I was laughing the whole time by their antics!

@ KillerB

I also wish that they’d make Special A longer! I really like Finn too and I want to see how the other S.A.’s lovelife would progress. I think Finn X Ryuu will be an interesting addition to the anime. Waaaaah! SEASON 2 please!!!

@ GP

I have the raws up to volume 13! Do you know where I can get vol 14? Thanks! I wish that the ratings would be high so that there’ll be consideration for season2!

If you want to see how far the manga has gotten, beyond the scanlators, someone on livejournal posts chapter summaries fairly soon after the chapter is released in Japan. The summaries are pretty good and he often includes screen shots.

well, i rarely see a manga-turned-into-anime follow the manga outline. :-S if they’ll truly end Special A with this season 1, they’ll probably end it with something not totally based from the manga. Ouran ended like that (and I was hoping for a Season 2 before too!).